As Fate Would Have It
by ParamoreXO
Summary: They might as well get used to waiting on the women in their lives.


**Summary: **They might as well get used to waiting on the women in their lives.

**Character Dynamics: **Wally, Kaldur, mentions of Spitfire

**Episode: **Immediately after#14, "Revelation"

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><p><strong>Disregarding every scenario his mind could formulate that involved a positive outcome, teenage hormones added to the concoction or not, Wally came to the ultimate conclusion that dual bathrooms sucked.<strong> Especially when the instance came that the two teenage girls of the team, in all their feminine glory, _insisted _upon hitting the showers first. Because, underneath all the pride Artemis contained when showcasing her latest battle scar and beneath the guy slang M'Gann had added to her diction in order to better fit in with the boys, he knew just how long they would spend in that locker room: For-freakin'-ever.

Sure, the girls of the team were modest when it came to dolling up. Neither one applied more makeup than necessary, if any at all, or bothered with fussing over flamboyant hairstyles. They didn't accessorize and it wasn't as if their designated lockers could possibly hold more than two outfits. When he broke the situation down like that, he couldn't bring himself to understand why it took over two hours for them to wash off and throw their uniforms back on. Heck, M'Gann could create clothes from her skin in seconds!

_Girls_. He couldn't even begin to understand their fixation with peerless appearance. So, leaning against the wall directly outside the locker room, caked in mud while his throbbing arm lay limply in a makeshift sling, he unleashed a heavy sigh that entangled with a groan of impatience. This was getting a bit ridiculous.

Juxtaposed to the redhead, Kaldur embodied a similar stance. Back against the wall, his inked arms crossed over his broad chest, rising and falling with the soporific flutter of his heart. Fleshy shutters of his eyes having closed a long time ago, Wally assumed that he had simply dozed off somewhere in the last hour or so. Wincing as a burning pain exploded up his injured arm, Wally grit his teeth as the overwhelming sentiments of frustration and pain wore his patience dangerously thin.

"Why did you refuse medical attention when the mission was over?"

Slanting his neck to view his leader, Wally grimaced as his shoulder throbbed at the action. Maintaining his nonchalant position, Kaldur gestured towards the speedster's injured limb with his eyes. "You are obviously in great pain."

"Oh, that." Tenderly digging his gloved fingers into the aching flesh and tissue of the junction that linked his neck and shoulder, he attempted to sedate the pain. "I want to wash off before it's looked at. It's probably not too bad, anyways."

Doubt etched into Kaldur's visage, yet he did not dare to reason with him. After the draining events of the night, both emotionally and physically, he was just as eager to get into the locker room as Wally was. Despite his dissatisfaction, Kaldur allowed his eyelids to drape over his tired vision and began to nod off once again.

The cadenced sound of running water and of M'Gann and Artemis's steam coated voices causing his wandering thoughts slight discomfort, Wally desperately tried to uphold the conversation. "Soooo," his voice slashed through the heavy blanket of awkwardness, "All Kent wanted to say to me was '_hello_'?"

Remaining mute, Kaldur simply nodded his reply.

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing else."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am certain." Sighing, he rolled his neck to look at the younger teen again, gills folding with the movement. "Why? Is there something more that you wish Kent would have mentioned?"

"No!"

A torrent of blood gushed into his cheeks at the brash outburst, causing a slight shade of crimson to bloom over his dust of freckles. Restlessly shifting his weight from one muddied boot to the other, his swift vacillation caused a new root of pain to sprout from his arm. Kaldur wasn't certain of the emotion, but he almost felt pity at Wally's sudden fit of apprehension. "Wally…?" The name trailed off his tongue, confusion preventing him from verbalizing a valid question.

"Um, er… Well, the last time I put on the helmet, Kent had started giving me some advice right after Nabu agreed to let me go." Distractedly pinching the cloth that supported his injured arm, the bright pigment of his downcast eyes clouded over with a brewing storm of memories. The topic was still raw. The emotions begat from the experience of having a dying man perish in his arms belonged to a nature he could not bring himself to understand. Or, rather, he did not wish to comprehend the entirety of death. But Kent, in a sense, still lived on. Trapped in a helmet, at least. His last morsel of advice he had fed to Wally remained unfinished and, despite the reoccurring conclusion as to who his spitfire could very well be, he wasn't about to finalize her identity until he had all the facts and the rest of that sentence. "Advice on life and finding the right kind of woman and whatnot… and, well, he had started to tell me _who _that woman might be. For me, I mean. Not that I'm ready for a commitment like marriage or anything because _that _would be ridiculous but it would've been helpful if Nabu hadn't butted in and kicked me out of his helmet before Kent could finish what he was saying!"

Brows knit tautly together, the semi aquatic hero tried to dissect the meaning behind Wally's unexpected rant. They hadn't shared many deep conversations before, and now all this talk about women was throwing him off. Before he could comprehend all that Wally had spit out, however, M'Gann burst through the steam filled entryway to the locker room, hovering above the ground as her cardigan billowed out behind her. Spotting the two boys, she landed before them as guilt distorted her freckled visage.

"You two might want to wait a while before you shower. Artemis used up all the hot water."

Trailing behind the Martian while toweling off her damp mane, the blonde archer's eyes narrowed in retaliation. "Hey! When you have this much hair, it's hard to wash mud out of it in a short amount of time."

Scoffing, Wally righted his stance, no longer propped against the cave wall. "Yeah, well that doesn't mean you have to spend two hours playing your little game of beauty salon!"

Rounding on the boy, Artemis balled up her soggy towel and pitched it at his face. She was a terrific shot, and if Wally hadn't owned the title of _the fastest boy alive_, she would've hit the bulls-eye dead on. His remarkable reaction time, however, didn't go without exactitude. Having zipped around the sopping archer, it was inevitable that he slip in the residue of her wet hair. Losing traction with the floor, he soared through the air and, despite his practice with skidding to an abrupt stop, crashed against the doorframe of the locker room. Ignoring the stifled giggles from M'Gann and the barefaced laughter from his attacker, Wally accepted Kaldur's sudden outstretched hand and fought for a standing position. He watched as the girls left the room for the kitchen, Artemis's calls of "_Way to go, Kid Klutz!" _chiming in with their echoing mirth. He clutched his injured arm, seething at the amplified pain as Kaldur released him.

"That… That… Ugh!" Turning away from his teammate, Wally kicked away the discarded towel that had just served as ammunition and stormed into the torrid locker room. Unlatching the storage compartments from his wristlets in a fit of frustration, he was quick to add his mud splattered elbow and shoulder pads to the increasing heap of filthy attire. "I don't even know what to call her! She's… Ugh, she's so annoying! A nuisance! A spitfire!"

Chuckling lightly, Kaldur strolled over to his designated locker, webbed hands hesitating over the coded panel. Turning to face his flustered teammate, he offered him a kind hearted grin. It was as if two frayed circuits in his head had sparked and coalesced, a sudden realization melding brilliantly together. "Wally… About earlier… I may not know precisely how Kent would have finished his piece of advice to you but I have a guess as to _who_ he was referring to."

"Yeah?"

Complacency smeared his genuine smile into a smirk. "I believe he would have called her a spitfire."

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><p><strong>AN: Because Kaldur & Wally bro bonding is so neglected in this fandom. And hard to write. And because it was so hard to write, feedback would be greatly appreciated! Like it? Hate it? Love it? Flame it? Let me know in a review! **


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